FAITH

I think I have strong faith but sometimes it's challenged. This was one of those weeks. It's not that this was a particularly difficult week or even the roughest I've had this month, just that when you feel like you are doing the right thing, sometimes it still doesn't go the way you expect it to and well... you know. So Ryan bought a truck 2 weeks ago tomorrow. It was a big deal for us since it's a lot of money for us, maybe not for others but for us it was. He looked at it on Friday and we prayed all weekend whether it was THE right truck. We both felt like it was. He bought it on Monday. On Tuesday it broke down. The readers digest version is we've now spent even more money we weren't counting on to fix the truck we thought was the right truck. Ryan has been very upset and even I, the optimistic one, have been having a difficult time. Until Thursday night. I decided to get over myself and realized that just because it seemed confusing doesn't mean we were wrong and I needed to be more faithful and less worried. On Friday morning things started happening and looking up to dip again on Saturday evening but up again today. It's amazing how the Lord knows what we need and when we have faith, everything works out somehow, usually because of other people in our lives and promptings followed. Again today, my faith is at full strength and I am humbled one more time.

BUTTHEAD

My wonderful husband has a dysfunctional way of showing affection, for example, if he isn't pestering me I know he is mad at me. He rarely calls me by name, even when I'm in trouble he calls me HONEY instead of honey. So anyway, a couple of weeks ago he jumped all over Caleb for something, I can't remember what but I'm sure he deserved it. Anyway afterwards he sat down with him and talked it out and made up so to speak and then rustled his hair and called him Butthead. I explained to Caleb after Ryan left for work that his dad has a weird way of showing affection and that when he calls him names like butthead and goober and stuff he is really saying "I love you" and that he does it to me too. Ever since then, I have 3 little boys running around the house calling me and everyone else butthead. It's AJ's new favorite word, that and slimo. So... now what do I do?

Swim Relay Finals

Jake and Caleb had their relay finals last night. I was so disappointed that I couldn't go but my awesome friend Kaci took them since her sweet Bristyn was also swimming, even though it was for a different team, traders! just kidding! It killed me to not go, the only meet I've missed but I knew Levi wouldn't be able to sit through it or AJ and we didn't have way there since Ryan's truck is in the shop and he had to work. Anyway... as you can see.. the boys did awesome!!!! Caleb got second place for backstroke in his first relay and first place for his freestyle relay!!! He cracks me up in this picture. He was trying to look cool. I think he looks like the Fonz. Jake got third place in his freestyle relay and seventh in his second relay for breaststroke. That surprised me because his breaststroke is really good, one of his best. He cracks me up, he was so excited. I was excited to hear all about it when they got home, they were excited to stay up late and tell me about it. GOOD JOB GUYS!!! WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU FOR DOING YOUR BEST!!!!

My Sweet Broken Levi

Wednesday morning started out great! The older boys, all three of them slept in until after 8, unheard of in our house! I got up with Levi and got so many things done early. The boys got up and everyone was in a good mood and everything was going great. Insert the ominous tones here... Levi was at the table with his older brothers getting breakfast and was standing on the bench reaching accross the table for the cereal or milk, I'm still not sure which, when he stepped off the edge of the bench and landed HARD on the floor. He didn't try to catch himself and so landed straight on his side, knocking the sand AJ had dumped over his head earlier, onto the floor. He screamed immediately and I immediately knew he had broken his collarbone. I was right. I didn't know he had also cracked his L humerus. We were all still in our pajamas and I was trying in vain to console him and figure out if I could get a bra on before I took him to the hospital. Ryan was sleeping. It was 9 am. Ryan woke up and drove us to the ER and took the 4 older boys home after he chastised me for not waking him up for the emergency and thinking I could take all 4 of them to the ER with me alone. I told him it was better than waking him up. I love him and all but he gets grumpy when he is tired. Anyway, as you can see from the pics, he may be broken but it's not stopping him and is barely slowing him down. He was still fast enough to get into my makeup and cover himself with blue eye shadow while I was getting unders out of the dryer. He still jumps into the pool to go swimming and still fights with AJ. He just does it with Motrin around the clock. The t-shirt splint is what Dr Sochaki told me to do when Caleb broke his collar bone when he was 2. It works like a charm!!

MORE SWIMMING

Jake and Caleb have done so well with the swim team this year and despite melting outside in the heat to support them at meets and practice, we will do it every year from now on. I loved it and they loved it AND it was so good for them! It's been really fun to watch them learn and get better. This video is from Jake's best finish, I'll let you decide, but to me it looks like a tie for first place. It was awesome to watch and he was so excited!!! Caleb is so proud of his first blue ribbon too!!!

They really want to do dive next year and have gotten very daring, Jake did a back flip off the diving board on Friday and does them often off the edge of the pool, much to Ryan's dismay. He is pretty good though so I'm pondering putting him in both swim and dive next summer. Their pediatrician chastised me for not putting sunscreen on them. I do but they are out in the sun so much that the are just brown and no amount of sunscreen is going to change that. We are so proud of them. They work so hard in everything they do and even though they aren't always the best, they give it their all everytime. What more could you ask for. I'm really excited to see how they swim next year with a year under their belts.

Summer Hike

Jake is working on his Wolf and wants to have it done by the end of the summer so for his hike yesterday he got to do the flag ceremony to finish one of his requirements. I am so proud of him. We got up at 430 to meet the other scouts at 530 to hike. AJ and Levi and Caleb went also. We hiked about 2 miles I think. Another testament to the incredible people in our ward, even with AJ whining the whole time, despite promising beforehand that he would walk if I let him come, noone was nasty and so many people offered to carry him and Levi so that I wouldn't have to do it the whole time. The boys all had a great time climbing and socializing. Caleb asked if we could go again today... NO. it's TOO HOT!!! I'm still glad we went. It was worth it. In all the times I've been hiking there, this was the first time we saw wildlife, we saw 2 large mule deer. They were awesome, not at all afraid but very aware and watchful of us watching them. Maybe they were just too hot to run away out of the shade!!!

Summer Fun!!!

We have had such a great summer!!! We have been swimming, almost everyday, we have been to the library and the boys have discovered different books. The swim team is a repeat every summer from now on! We have been camping and hiking and... Monday Luke treated us to Peter Piper. That is my favorite restaurant, not because of the food but because the kids have so much fun. They are exhausted and laughing the entire time. This time Levi finally climbed up into the playplace and had so much fun.